The best speaker you ever heard?


In my opinion, the speaker is by far the most important part of the audio system. After all, it is the only part you hear. OK, the other stuff really matters a lot, but without a great speaker... No go.

I am a bit 'speaker-obsessed' I guess, and now I am wondering: What are the best speakers you have ever heard, and what made them the best?
njonker
Ctsooner:
Thanks for the respons. I do agree with you completely regarding the critical listening sessions..those I do sometimes, merely to understand how good a speaker are. With the Montanas, which I belive are highly underrated, I can only Enjoy music, and I tend to forget that I listen to music via two speakers in my room..If taking time to find the correct place in a room for them, and pair them with reasonable good equipment, they will reward you with the ability to forget the speakers itself, the equipment around, and merely let the music have its own life in front of you..and by this I mean layers upon layers with very accurate presented music, very lifelike, dynamic and highly realistic..They have a tendency, when people hear these at my place, to make them fall in love with the music maybe for the first time or make them rediscover how a certain cd maybe gave them a certain, forgotten feeling:)
I do however belive that you cannot pair or force them to connect with all other equipment in the system at a symbiotic level..it can take time to correctly place a speaker and match with the rest..but when this happens, Magic happens as well, in the form of the music you play.
As you said, a speaker must be musical:) and these are..they are Amazing

* havent heard the Vandy Ct line..will try in the near future
Best Speaker I ever Heard - Focal Grande Utopia EM. Were driven by Boulder 1500w monoblocks and other high-end Boulder electronics in a treated room. Heard the system earlier this week. Extremely impressive.
What's comical about this 13 year thread is that EVERY speaker mentioned can also be one of the WORST speakers ever heard with improper associated gear.

Forget about front-end source electronics or even the preamp. Just the amplifier alone could totally change the performance of every speaker mentioned.

Oh...and don't forget the room and speaker setup too.

The best sound I ever heard came from a Naim/Dynaudio Evidence Temptation setup at a Stereophile show probably 10+ years ago. It was in a huge meeting room - not typical hotel room - which gave it a huge advantage. In a typical hotel room, it probably wouldn't have even ranked in the top 10 I heard that one day many years ago.

A thread that lists the "best speaker you ever heard" will attract attention...I get that...but you can tell a true audiophile by the ones that give context versus scribbling their Twitter-level two-cents.